This Time and Place We'll Never be Again
by januarys
Summary: Sequel to 'Run a Mile'. Usui comes back. Misaki can't look at him. — MisakiUsui


**This Time and Place We'll Never be Again** (Misaki/Usui)

PG | 1,288 - (Sequel to Run a Mile, can be read as an AU standalone)

_Angst and suggestive (sort of) themes, _Usui comes back. Misaki can't look at him.

* * *

Her keys clatter loudly onto her kitchen counter, the apartment echoes from the only sound it's held all day. Misaki begins to unbutton her confining jacket, her other hand claimed by her cell phone, messages left throughout the day buzz into her head.

Tired. So tired. Misaki thinks as she manuveur's out her jacket, letting it drop unceremoniously to the floor. Runs her slender fingers through her raven hair, eyes the moonlight casting fractured shadows through her window shutters. They stretch to infinity along her counter, disappear to nothing once they reach the edge.

She takes a breath, feel the days anxieties escape with an exhale. Hinata's chirpy voice blares into her ear. A smile on her lips, warmth spreading to her fingertips from the sound of her best friends voice.

A car horn blares outside. A plane passes overhead. Her gaze travels outside her window; her mind wanders to a day (_five and a half years ago_) when she ran with all of her energy, all her might, her strength. Heart over mind. Heart racing to keep up with the mind.

"_I'll come back. I'll come back and we'll finish what I started."_

Enough. It wasn't enough.

She shakes her head, clears her mind. Brings her gaze back into her apartment, forgoing the outside world and childish delusions, thinks about a hot shower and a warm bed. Her eyes stop short at an in descript object lying innocently on her counter, barely half a metre from her fingertips. She feels a tremor in her hands and she recognises the colourful wrapper, the lacquered stick holding the treat on the end.

A lollipop. A damn cherry and lime lollipop.

Her phone is still against her ear, messages left unanswered. Misaki snatches the offending object with shaking hands. It crinkles beneath her touch, still warm, as though someone had been grasping it not a moment before. Her heart begins to race. Blood rushes to her face. This isn't real, she thinks. This isn't happening. The treat is still warm on her skin.

_This is real._

She goes to breathe, realises she's not aloe from the shift of movement in the room before her. She walks over her jacket, heart racing, skin burning. Shaking. Trembling. This isn't real. She hurries to her light switch, phone still against her ear, treat twisted in her grasp.

Her occupied fingers hover over the switch. She stops. Stops breathing. Stops thinking. Stops. We'll finish what I started. Misaki turns on the light.

Usui Takumi sits in her living room.

Nothing is said. Misaki can hear her heart thud against her chest, her pulse fluttering like a hummingbird. He takes a breath, she can't move, he exhales. The corners of his mouth turn slightly upwards. She closes her eyes.

Then she throws her phone and the lollipop at him. She doesn't need to open her eyes to know that he catches them without even blinking. The slight crinkle of the sweet wrapper proves otherwise. She hears a huff of laughter, and she opens her eyes and yes, he's still there. His hair is a little shorter, his clothes more fitted. Foreign but familiar.

He's here. He's back.

Misaki doesn't want to look at him. She hates him. She hates him but she doesn't but she _waited_and she loves him. Instead-

"Only perverted stalkers break into a single woman's apartment late at night."

She stays rooted to the spot, fists clenched at her sides. Usui laughs again, soft, familiar, places her phone down next to him and stands up, takes a step closer to her. He seems taller. He toys with the sweet in his hands, fingers itching to open it but he resists.

She takes another breath.

"I never gave up on you. Never. There was always a small part of me that believed you were coming back then."

He steps closer to her, footsteps more measured, the air around him silent. He's not breathing.

"Hinata… Hinata never gave up on _me_. He doesn't deserve what I put him through. He always brushed it off, still does now. He always thought that I would give up on you, and that's why he always waited. Still does now. It's-it's not-."

Misaki hasn't taken her eyes off of him, despite the tears that sting her eyes. She bunches her fists into the material of her pants, takes a deep breath, and keeps her eyes on his approaching form. His face is passive, eyes hiding internal thoughts.

"Five and a half years, Usui. Five and a half. Not a single word. No messages, no calls, no letters. Nothing. I thought it had to be a fluke at first, but… it kept going. It's like you wanted it like that. It hurt, Usui, it still does."

He's so close to her now, barely half an arm length away. The treat is long forgotten, abandoned in his suit pocket. She tears her eyes away from his face, lets them fall to the floor. Her tears soon follow.

"I…"

Usui grabs her clenched fists, fingers forcibly intertwining with hers, and brings her closer to him. He brings their hands behind his neck, and she feels herself fall into the contours of his body.

She still fits. Every deep contour, every sharp curve. Like a puzzle piece that found its partner.

Her heart beats faster as she realises how close their faces are. His warm breath on her skin, cinnamon and _Usui_. He turns his head slightly to the side, presses his warm lips against the pale skin of her arm. She bites her lip at the warmth that bursts from the intimate touch. She can still feel her hands tremble.

Usui loosens the grip on her fingers, lets them rest against his neck, brings his hands down the lines of her body, and rests them on her waist. His forehead comes to rest against her own, and her heart finally skips a beat.

She's assaulted by every part of him. Skin. Scent. Warmth. The sound of his breathing. Misaki remembers hiding out in the council room, the thrill of getting caught, his hands tangled in her hair, his lips memorising hers. His warm breath against her skin, hands caressing her skin, laughter bubbling around them.

"Ayuzawa," his voice is deep, familiar, "do you remember what I said to you all those years ago, how I'll come back? I'll come back and finish what I started?"

Misaki closes her eyes. Every day. Every day. She feels his face press against her own. Her eyelashes flutter against his cheek as she looks at him, so close, so warm. Everything. This is everything.

"I'm back. I'm finally back."

Usui sounds desperate, cautious. He clings to her like he done so at the airport all those years ago. He needs her. He _needs_ her.

Misaki lets her fingertips brush the ends of his hair, nudges closer into him. This moment. This is all she's been waiting for. Everything has come to this. There's a slight crinkle from the treat wrapper in his pocket, and she thinks of a windy rooftop with his arms around her, cherry and lime and _Usui_on her tongue. Misaki thinks they should talk more, clear the air. She needs to understand _why-_

"Okay," she says, "okay."

He kisses her, lips full and warm against hers. She forgets how to breathe, how to think, how to _be_. He presses her against the wall, hands roaming her body to cup her face and she sighs into the clinch. Memorises his taste, the feel of his skin against her own, noses brushing, melting into him and-

Enough. This is enough.


End file.
